Intel announces new gigabit-LTE modem for laptops, phones, and other devices

Intel has announced the XMM 7560, a competitor to Qualcomm's X20 Gigabit LTE modem. The XMM 7560 should offer transfer speeds of up to 1Gbps, be compatible with networks worldwide, and will see wide-scale release in 2018.

Intel has announced a new modem, elegantly named the "XMM 7560", to compete against Qualcomm's also-upcoming gigabit-LTE modem, the X20. The XMM 7560 will be the company's first LTE modem capable of up to 1Gbps download speeds, with upload speeds up to 225Mbps.

With 5G infrastructure still very much in its infancy, there won't be much guarantee of reaching those speeds in the wild, however. Intel says that 1Gbps has been reached in testing, but Qualcomm's tests of their first Gigabit modem yielded average transfer speeds of 112 to 307 Wbps, according to the Verge.

While Intel's XMM 7560 is built on a larger (14nm) manufacturing process than Qualcomm's X20 (10nm) as well as slightly slower (1Gbps versus 1.2Gbps respectively), the XMM 7560 does offer more flexible connectivity. Intel's offering will support up to 35 TE bands, meaning only one SKU is needed to provide complete global coverage.

Intel plans to begin manufacturing samples in H2 2017, and full-scale production will begin shortly after.